[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Shadow package translations



On Mon, Mar 01, 2004 at 12:56:21AM +0100, Nikolai Prokoschenko wrote:
> On Sun, Feb 29, 2004 at 02:56:15PM +0100, Christian Perrier wrote:
> > The shadow package is used during the second stage of Debian
> > Installer. 
> > Thus, having its templates properly translated in all languages
> > supported by Debian Installer (will be 23 to 31 languages) is an
> > important target.

> Speaking of which, there is a line in the package, which offers the
> enter the name for the new normal user, which is "Debian User" by
> default. I've had a temptation to translate it, but I also know this
> would get into the /etc/passwd file, which is not yet UTF-8 ready, as
> far as I can tell. At the same time, I could insert a remark about not
> using cyrillic in user name to the introduction text, but that's
> somehow uncool ;) Is there any clear policy, whether UTF-8 is
> allowed/usable in /etc/passwd?

The only real issue is that there's no defined standard for the encoding
of /etc/passwd, so the only globally safe encoding is ASCII.  However,
this is no reason to discourage local use of other charsets; I know many
localized sites use localized gecos in their passwd files.

Cheers,
-- 
Steve Langasek
postmodern programmer

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: Digital signature


Reply to: